Hands-On with Android 4.2 Photo Sphere (Video)

Android 4.2, “a new flavor of Jelly Bean”, was announced earlier this week, with it comes a new Camera and Gallery app that let you take advantage of Google’s Street View technology by enabling you to take quick-and-easy 360-degree, immersive panoramas.

Before we get started, these files are leaks, they’re not supported, and you’re assuming the risk of something going terribly wrong. However, if want to give it a try, you’re in luck! Here’s what you’re going to need:

After you’ve got all your files, copy them to your Android, then fire up Root Explorer. Copy GalleryGoogle.apk to /system/app and assign it rw-r–r– permissions. Copy both of the .ro library files to /system/lib and assign them rw-r–r– permissions as well. Reboot.

If all went well you’ll probably have two camera icons in your app drawer: one with a purple lense, and another with a blue one. Open the latter and you’ll have the new camera, complete with its Photo Sphere capabilities!

Joe graduated from Weber State University with two degrees in Information Systems and Technologies. He has carried mobile devices with him for more than a decade, including Apple's Newton, Microsoft's Handheld and Palm Sized PCs, and is Pocketnow's "Android Guy".By day you'll find Joe coding web pages, tweaking for SEO, and leveraging social media to spread the word. By night you'll probably find him writing technology and "prepping" articles, as well as shooting video.Read more about Joe Levi here.